She avoided the cabin, but rode down to the pasture in the creek bottom where Johnny's extra horse would be feeding.

The horse was there, and came trotting lonesomely up to the fence when he saw Jake.

But there was only the one horse, which seemed to prove that the other horse was with the saddle and bridle--wherever they were.
Mary V returned to the corral, still keeping far enough away from the cabin to hide the sound of Jake's hoof beats from any one within.

She tied the horse to a corral post and went on foot to the cabin.

She carried her six-shooter in her hand, and she carried in her throat a nervous fluttering.
First she sidled up to a window and listened, then peered in.